The JK Vision │ Geek, Film, Gaming & Foodie Blog: 2018

The Amazing Smartphone Era: 5 Unexpected Things That You Didn't Know There Was an App For

The revolution of Google's PlayStore, Windows Phone Store and Apple's platform has transformed today's smartphones into super gadgets wielding more power than most people can fathom. Nowadays, finding and downloading free apps for simple day-to-day tasks such as checking emails, chatting, taking photos, etc is nothing but a breeze.

Smartphones have been around for quite some time now, and for this reason it's common for one to think that they've seen and heard all there is to witness, as far as mobile apps go. Well, this might be the case, but not until they've seen the following list of ingenious apps.

Here are top 5 things you never imagined there was an app for.

1.) Changing the colour of light bulbs.

Are you tired of the feeling of being stuck with a single monochromatic hue for your living room? Yes, as weird as it may seem, you can change the colours of your bulbs using your iPhone or iPad anytime you please. This is of course courtesy of the work of clever software developers behind the Phillips Hue mobile app available on Apple's iTunes store. All you require to periodically change the colour of the glow of your light bulbs is a relatively strong Wi-Fi connectivity and a set of 'smart' bulbs. With the help of this app, you can also control the brightness level of these bulbs using your phone, something that most of us never imagined could even be remotely possible.

2.) Using your phone as a remote control handset.

We all have experienced that frustrating feeling one gets when you can't seem to recall where you last placed your remote control, especially when you need to flip through channels. Have you ever also noted that in all those times that you couldn't find your TV's remote, you surprisingly had your phone in your pocket or next to you? Yeah, we tend to be rather attached to our phones.

In the same light, another strange app took advantage of this and enables you to transform that mobile handset you so treasure into a functional remote control. It saves you the inconvenience of ransacking your living room anytime you can't seem to keep track of your main remote unit. ThinkFlood's Red Eye Mini continues to save the day in many homes and is compatible with both iOS and Android phones.

3.) Tracking your kids.

Kids, especially teenagers, have proven to be quite sneaky and evasive. Well, if you have a teenage daughter or son, you no longer have to keep calling them after every ten minutes to inquire on their whereabouts. Most of the time they won't also tell you the truth. With the GPS tracking app - Life360, you can enjoy a little peace of mind knowing exactly where your children are, that is if they have their phone with them.

Additionally, when visiting a friend in another country or new city you can make use of this app to avoid getting lost or stranded. Using this tracking app, your host could direct you more accurately to their place or pick you up at a particular rendezvous using your location.

On that note, when travelling abroad you should make it a habit to install this app plus a good VPN encryption software on your phone. The VPN will enable you an unlimited internet access regardless of the mobile network carrier or Wi-Fi connectivity you will use while away from home.

4.) Catching fish.

The next time you're caught in an unsuccessful fishing expedition, simply pull out your phone and install Deeper Fish Finder app. You will be amazed by how accurate the app is in detecting fish that are up to 120 feet deep. The application uses sonar pulses that could be generated by your smartphone to image fish that are beyond your visual realm. To use the app, you have to lower your phone near the water surface for the pulses to detect the fish more accurately. (Take care not to drop your phone, though)

5.) Measuring the height of buildings, towers or even mountains while up-close.

Ever wondered how tall your favourite skyscraper in the city is? Have you ever been out on a picnic and wondered out aloud how you wish knew how high a given rock or boulder was? Well, it turns out there is an app developed just for that. Dot Measure Pro for iOS and Blackberry is famous for approximating the height of buildings, cliffs, bridges and other tall architectural structures with an outstanding level of accuracy. The developers have made it even more fun to use by integrating a feature that prompts you to first place a guess before measuring the actual height. You might be surprised on how wild your guesses can be!

Caroline is a self confessed geek who loves writing about technology and gadgets. You can connect with her via Google+

1) That Guy That Walks Everywhere Backwards

If you've been in Derby for more than a month and you have no idea who I'm talking about then why don't you try going to Derby City Centre LITERALLY ANYTIME. This guy walks backwards around town all day writing mysterious notes into his notebook. No one knows why he does this and he refused to talk to anyone that asks. He's become a kind of celebrity to Derbadians.

2) Stab Alley Behind Sir Peter Hilton Court

If you're a student then you will know exactly what I'm talking about here. Between Sir Peter Hilton Court and Darley Bank is an alley that runs past the river. Walking down this alone at night would earn you some major respect from me. You'll also happen to come across stoner bridge next to Peter Hilton. I'll let you guys find out about that for yourselves.

3) Being Shit Scared Of The Hairy Dog Yet Always Manager To End Up There On A Night Out

If you've ever been into the Hairy Dog even remotely sober and actually felt safe then who even are you? I was stone cold sober the first time I went in here and had to stay alert at all times just so I didn't get attacked or something. No matter how much you bad mouth this place though you always seem to end up back there since it stays open late most of the week. Expensive drinks and a pool of piss in the bathroom make for a much needed shot or 2.

4) Playing 'Dodge The Clipboards' On St. Peters Street

Look, all I wanted was a crap ton of McNuggets to quench the sadness ans street of uni work. No I do not want to talk to you about our lord and saviour, nor do I want to buy a wristband for £20 then feel bad whenever I say no. It takes almost twice as long to walk down this road than it should since you have to zigzag side to side just to avoid human contact.

5) Having To Decide Between Mosh And Walkabout When Both Are Equally Shite

So where are we off tonight guys? Mosh? Walkabout? Nah. Then where else? Oh...better be Mosh then. You better hold onto your shoes in mosh cause it seems like the floor is trying to mug you most of the time you're there. Nailing them to your feet should do the trick. Fair enough you can get free shots from there but the options are so weak you might as well ask for a shot of orange squash.

6) Wondering Where The Poultry Based Pet Names Came From

You go for you first shop since moving to Derby. You're next in line. The checkout lady looks over to and that's when she says it... "Ayup Duck". Duck... Did I just get called a duck? Since when has Duck been a nice name to call someone? I mean yeah ducks existed before I came to uni but I just thought they were animals that you could rarely afford from the Chinese and then they started disappearing from the local river. No words of a lie, this really throws me off still to this day.

5) The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (2004)

Of course The Spongebob Squarepants Movie isn't in the top 5 films of all time in general but for me it is right up there. You have to take into consideration the fact that I grew up absolutely obsessed with Spongebob. I had the box-sets, the games, the toys, the clothes...heck, even my bedroom walls were decorated in the stuff. So when the hugely anticipated film was finally released a small part of my inner child was complete, add this to the fact that the film wasn't actually that bad in general anyway. To this day I can still watch this film again and again.

4) Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith (2005)

I know what most people are thinking... "Really? A prequel trilogy film in your top 5?". Well, you need to completely forget about the previous 2 films and focus solely on this instalment alone. It pretty much saved the prequel trilogy towards the end. George Lucas actually made something worth watching with perhaps the best lightsaber battle among all 7 in the saga. Although Hayden Christensen's performance was one of the worse I have ever seen, Ewan McGregor's was one of the best. Plus Dooku, who doesn't love Dooku?

3) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Based on the book by Stephen King this film is such a classic that I shouldn't need to tell you too much about it. Based in Shawshank prison it tells of Andy Dufresne, an American banker, who was sentenced to 2 life sentences for murder and how he survives in prison. It stars one of my favourite actors (and probably yours too) Morgan Freeman. His unforgettable voice also provides the narration for the film. If you have yet to see this film...stop reading this post right now and go watch it. This is an extremely emotional film, putting it at number 3 in my top 5.

2) Fight Club (1999)

You nearly caught me...I know the rules.

1) Labyrinth (1986)

This film. David Bowie. That should do it. I mean it though, this film is the pinnacle of...filmy-ness? It has everything a film needs: Good music, David Bowie and a Bowie bulge. What more could you expect? Even though I was born 11 years after this film was released it was still a childhood film for me. Dance Magic Dance is still a song I listen to regularly, constantly being reminded of the babe and such. I highly recommend this film to anyone interested in fantasy, David Bowie or just good films in general to be honest.

We live in a world full of advertisements. They are everywhere you look. On your TV, your Radio, your computer, your phone and hundreds of other places. Some of these ads can become irritating and some can be completely useless which is true. But just think about those companies or content creators that literally make their money from selling advertisements.

Let's use for example Funnyjunk, a humorous Image and video sharing site where users can comment on content and interact with each other. without advertisements running alongside the site there would be no income whatsoever to the site so the sever costs would not be paid and the site would be shut down. Advertisements either pay based on the amount of clicks on the ad or the amount of times it has shown up on a user's screen. Adblock prevents both of these things from happening so the user will still be receiving their free content without the possibility of giving the Admin of the site anything in return. For those of you who use Adblock focus on the words FREE CONTENT. You don't have to pay to use Funnyjunk, YouTube or Reddit which is why these sites need their advertisement revenue, along with other types of income, to stay afloat.

Admittedly some advertisements can be annoying. Especially the advertisements that catch you off-guard like when you click to watch a video on YouTube by 'by chance' a sponsored video pops up and you end up watching that instead. Or when you want to retry a level on a free mobile game but an add pops up just as you press retry, leading to another false click on an advertisement.

Even with all the annoying false-click advertisements out there you need to think about the creators allowing you to view their FREE articles, videos or images without asking you for a penny. All they want you to do is allow advertisements to be shown on your screen whenever you visit their site so they have the chance to make a bit of money.

There is even advertisements on this blog. I don't make a tonne of income at all but its a nice little incentive for the work I have been putting into this blog for over 2 and a half years. If Adsense suddenly disappeared I would always continue blogging but as these ads are up on my site I would like to have the chance to make a little bit of income from them and all you guys have to do is allow them on your screen, you don't even need to click them and it still helps.

So to conclude,
People who use Adblock: You are getting free content. give the creators the chance to make money they rightfully deserve from the content they have created.
People who don't use Adblock: You are cool people.

Thanks for reading.

UPDATE (2021): I changed my mind, ads suck. By the way, I hope you enjoy the ads on this blog. Peace.

So my fiancee and I were planning a little trip to London in the midst my final university exam period. We all know how expensive London can be so we planned that we'd head to a chain restaurant that we looked up beforehand, The Slug & Lettuce.

We'd researched the menu for the bar beforehand hand liked the food we saw, plus the prices were not too bad either. We underestimated how busy it'd be so we didn't reserve a table beforehand. Our bad, it is London after all. Upon arrival, we were greeted quite abruptly with "Have you booked?". Of course, though, we hadn't. But a table was still available anyway so we were seated.

The waitress informed us that she would be back in a few minutes to take our order. Upon looking at the menu my fiancee decided to have the Smothered Chicken (£10.29) and I wanted to have something different to what I usually eat when out and went for the Chicken Tikka Masala. We also decided to treat ourselves to a Zombie cocktail each (£9.95 2-4-1). It took a while to place this order since the waitress seemed more concerned with 'chilling' at another table of presumably her friends.

Once the drinks arrived and we tried them we couldn't complain too much, but that's where the lack of complaining ended. Let's talk about my fiancee's food first with a game I like to call "Spot the Piece of Chicken".

For reader convenience, I have pointed out the poultry.

It was dry, bland and even a 3-year-old child would call it bite-sized. I mean, for over £10 you'd expect your chicken to be a bit thicker than the knife you're cutting it with. When I say cutting I mean probing. I guess a good thing to say about this meal is that you can admire the majority of the plate that you're eating it off? Slug and Lettuce? More like Slug and LetUs disappoint you.

Now for my lovely curry...

Once I got the plate to stop sliding around on the...other plate... I got to taste it. Not going to lie, it wasn't the best curry I had ever eaten in my life. The rice tasted like it had been cooking for as long as it had been grown for. The chicken, like my fiancee's smothered chicken, was on the dry side as well as bland. The sauce looked like it was mostly water and could have done with being simmered longer.

We were terribly disappointed with this meal. Terrible tasting food, you don't get much for your money, and chicken you could replace your window panes with. All in all, I give this place a 2/10. That's 1 mark for the table not wobbling and 1 for the fact that the drinks "weren't too bad".

2/10

We haven't had a rant post for a while have we? All this positivity everywhere is making me feel uneasy. Time to bring the mood down! Here are a few things that everyone else loves but I just don't get why.

Adam Sandler Movies

I always try to explain to people that once you've seen a single Adam Sandler movie you've already seen them all. Here, let me tell you a plot to one of his films and you try to tell me which one it is? Adam Sandler sees a good-looking female that he wants to be with, Adam Sandler can't find a way to do so. Adam Sandler confides in some kids, shenanigans happen and ultimately the children cause Adam Sandler and the lady to get together. The end. Which film was that? Bedtime Stories? Blended? Big Daddy? See, you can't tell because they are all literally all the same fucking movie. Don't get me wrong, some of his films are good but I want a more developed plot than the same old kid-helping-romance theme that every film seems to include.

Grilled Halloumi

I just don't get it. You're basically eating a novelty dog toy that's as salty as licking a raw Haddock. Anything that sounds like a nuisance rodent violently being slaughtered by a cat with vengeance when I eat is going no where near my mouth again. I swear the first time I went through the ordeal the full cast of 101 Dalmatians came bursting through the restaurant door. Suddenly it's the new big thing I see everywhere I turn...must be a hipster thing. I'll be sure to take some doggy bags next time I go into a Wetherspoons.

Game Of Thrones

I've tried, okay? Sitting through hour after hour of artistic nudity, impalement and dragons just doesn't seem to catch my attention. I'd rather see a Chemistry teacher cook narcotics, or watch a blood splatter analyst casually murder a few local serial killers. When it comes to fantasy I love the theme in gaming but not so much in film. Lord of The Rings included whereas The Elder Scrolls franchise in phenomenal.

Additional Dislikes

Apple (Good products, ridiculously overpriced)

Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke (Questionable Lyrics and a silly looking hat)

Robin Thicke in general (See his wikipedia page)

Car Obsessions (Look, my car goes vroom vroom louder than yours)

Is there anything that you hate yet everyone else seems to love?

Let me know in the comments below!

Source

It's a whirlwind star of the year for big film releases. Infinity War, Deadpool 2 and Black Panther being the most notable thus far. It's easy for a movie to be lost in the blockbuster releases and sadly that seems to be what happened to Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Spoilers As Usual

Ron Howard as Director

Source

This is the fourth Star Wars film to be released since Disney took control of Lucas film. Sadly this film is probably most known for the multiple problems it ran into throughout production. The original directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, left the project just 6 months into production when notable director, Ron Howard, took over directing responsibilities. Howard, best known for directing The DaVinci Code, did an amazing job in taking a semi-completed film and turning it into a respectable movie that stood well on it's own away from the Star Wars franchise.

Howard had already experienced directing a space-set film after overseeing the production of docudrama Apollo 13 so when it was announced it was he that was going to complete the film I was pretty optimistic. I'm glad I was because this film was thoroughly enjoyable. Whether or not you were previously a fan of the franchise this film is still a great addition to the universe.

Notable Performances

Source

The film's lead character was portrayed by American 'Hail, Caesar!' actor, Alden Ehrenreich. He was the subject of another production issue report that claimed that Ehrenreich has to take acting lessons to improve his role as Han Solo. Looking back at the film you would either think "Eh, he didn't need those lessons." or "Wow those lessons really worked!".

Along with Donald Glover's appearance as Lando Calrissian, Ehrenreich was one of the stand-out performances throughout the whole film. The actor replicated Han Solo's mannerisms well all whilst making the role his own instead of doing a hard-copy of Harrison Ford's version.

The Story

The film has been criticised for not adding anything new to the franchise to which I have to sadly agree with. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, there wasn't really much more information injected into the Star Wars universe. It has a few little new bits of information like where Solo got his name and how he met Chewbacca but there was no new story-changing details.

That Darth Maul Cameo at the end though...

Final Thoughts

I would pay to see this film again. It's a shame to see how poorly this instalment has performed at the Box Office and it deserves alot more. To me, this film was far better than The Last Jedi and on par with The Force Awakens, both of which made a phenomenal amount of money.

The performances were fun and not pure imitations of the original versions. I am satisfied with the movie in general although I would have loved a bit more information to be added to the title character like his full boy-hood origin.

I would also like to say that L3 was one of the worst droids in the franchise an there was no point of her being there even if it was just for comic relief.

72/100
What did you think of the film? Let me know in the comments.

1) That Guy That Walks Everywhere Backwards

2) Stab Alley Behind Sir Peter Hilton Court

3) Being Shit Scared Of The Hairy Dog Yet Always Manager To End Up There On A Night Out

4) Playing 'Dodge The Clipboards' On St. Peters Street

5) Having To Decide Between Mosh And Walkabout When Both Are Equally Shite

6) Wondering Where The Poultry Based Pet Names Came From

5) The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (2004)

4) Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith (2005)

3) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

2) Fight Club (1999)

1) Labyrinth (1986)

UPDATE (2021): I changed my mind, ads suck. By the way, I hope you enjoy the ads on this blog. Peace.

Adam Sandler Movies

Grilled Halloumi

Game Of Thrones

Additional Dislikes

Ron Howard as Director

Notable Performances

The Story

Final Thoughts

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